Christmas #2

 Christmas Eve we spent with my family because we normally always head to Norman for Christmas Day.  This year was no different.  Bright and early Christmas Eve morning we loaded up and went over to my parents for the day.  It was a day filled with kids screaming and running around, game playing, wine drinking, football, and awesome food.  

We are so blessed!

Tomorrow's blog is titled Christmas #3 and all about our trip to Norman.  It will be a lot like today's blog but with different family members from Steven's family.  Look to be thrilled with yet ANOTHER Christmas blog.  Tomorrow's is the last I promise:)

Christmas #1

 December 23rd we did our Christmas together as a family.  The boys were excited to finally get to open their presents that they had been eyeing under the tree since November.  Their biggest and best gift this year was a football uniform complete with jersey, pants, shoulder pads, and helmet.  Of course, Will got OU and Owen got Dolphins.  Why this child likes the Miami Dolphins is besides me.  He just said it's because he likes dolphins. I am so thankful for the Internet because it is nearly impossible for me to find Miami Dolphins in Oklahoma.

The night before we got to go to dinner with some good friends at Osaka.  Between both couples we have 4 boys.  They were all entranced with the Japanese cook the whole time.  That's the way to keep 4 boys entertained!

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Gingerbread Houses

 Today was our annual gingerbread house making day at Mason's house.  This was the 3rd year in a row that my boys have gone.  Today was Owen's 2nd time to go and he did great.  I was impressed with how hard he worked on his house.  Both boys ate more candy than actually went on their house but they still love this every holiday season and look forward to it for weeks!  

Thank you to Amanda and Steven who graciously give up their house every year right before Christmas for it to get destroyed by kids, candy, icing,and broken houses.  This year, one of those broken houses was dropped by Will.  Thank goodness Amanda is smart enough to make extra:)

Owen's house was a little top heavy with loads of candy on the roof.  Will's house sort of resembled a face but then candy began to fall off and quickly get eaten so I am not sure what it finished like.  

Merry Christmas to all!

Celebrate Christmas

 Tonight my sweet nieces, Ava and Emma did something very special.  They had been growing their hair for quite a long time to have it long enough to cut it all off and donate.  Ava got 9 inches off and Emma got 8.  I think this is Ava's second time to do this but not quite sure if that is correct.  Either way, I am very proud of them and think they look super ADORABLE with their cute little bobs!  Way to go girls.

After the girls got their hair snipped we all headed to our church, Church on the Move, for our Christmas program special.  I really enjoyed going with 14 of our family members to this show.  The kids loved it. The adults loved it.  The music and dancing were top notch and I just love the story of Christmas (set to music) read by our Pastor every year. Every year it's the same thing, but every year I enjoy it just the same!

Tonight was Owen's first time coming to our church show.  The last year he was still too young, the year before that Daddy just stayed home with him because he wasn't even 2 yet.  The year before that Daddy stayed home with a then 9 month old so I could take Will with me.  Owen finally got to sit through "big church" at 4 years old.  He did pretty well. I gave him a B grade.  He came prepared though for the loud music and even BEFORE the show started he had those bad boys on and was ready!

Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas Party Time

 Today I got the chance to go to Will's 1st grade Christmas party.  I haven't gotten to volunteer in his class as much as I would like this year since I work 4 days and a week and my day off is the day Owen has no school.  All that to say, I really love when I can go into his class and see him in his school comfort zone.  I noticed on his desk a picture that his teacher took in the first week of school (to help learn their names).  I loved this picture of Will. I thought he looked so tan and handsome with his summer cut and summer tan.  He also looks so grown up (which I don't really like that part).  

The party started off with food.  Will got to make his very own reindeer donut.  A chocolate donut, pretzels, a hot tamale, and two eyes is all this took.  We both thought it turned out pretty good!

Next up was a snowman activity.  Will was grouped with two other kids whose job it was to cover him in toilet paper (cue the 1st graders laughing at the word toilet paper).  Will's team did pretty awesome, complete with a scarf to finish his snowman look!  

His last fun thing was to make a reindeer headband.  Darn those tiny little bitty wholes that I had to string string through.  How can anyone do that?  So frustrating!  Anyways, Will didn't care.  He was tired of me taking pictures by this point though:)

He had a great party and we finished the day up with our church's Christmas presentation "Celebrate Christmas" (more on that blog later).  Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Train

 Last night was a beautiful night to go to Christmas Train.  No wind, an almost full moon, temperatures in the high 40's, and no rain or snow. Can't ask for much better for December.  Problem though?  We didn't have tickets to the Train this year due to them selling out within 12 minutes (or something crazy like that). "Oh well, we've gone every year", I thought.  "We'll just do something different this year."  Although in my heart, I still wanted to take our family to the Train.  So, I waited and heard about people selling tickets or not being able to go for some reason.  Usually any time I would hear of this situation the tickets would be sold before I even could call them to tell them we wanted them, or it was a night where we already had things planned, or it was bad weather, etc....

Yesterday at about 4pm I found out about 4 tickets for THAT NIGHT.  By 5pm, we were on the road to Christmas Train!  I love how God works like that.  What may seem small to me was BIG to God and He took care of us:)  We actually did have plans last night but nothing that couldn't be moved to tonight to accomplish!

I will leave you with Christmas Train 2013 Santa picture.  Please excuse my children's clothing and hair.  Straight from school, no time to change (because I didn't know we were going till last minute), hair flat from all day playing, and pants with holes in them.  At least they had coats.  Score one for mom!

Buddy Part One

 Every year Buddy the Elf comes to visit our house.  Let me just be very up front here...I am NOT one of those Elf people that research and spend money and too much time to figure out funny and naughty things for Buddy to do every night.  Me?  I usually just stick him somewhere different every night.  

Take a few nights ago for example.  I was tired and it was late.  I had almost forgotten to move him.  Big oops on my part.  So, I moved him from inside a stocking to hanging from the ceiling fan.  Big deal around here.  See, no creativity needed and the boys thought it was AWESOME.  I thought it looked like our elf committed suicide but they got a good kick out of it:)

Another good and easy one was Buddy "pooping" on the boys toilet.  Don't worry, it was only raisens but the boys totally got into that one!

Our elf does pretty standard things around here.  Nothing too fancy or hard for either Steven or I.  I think it's so funny though that no matter what we do to Buddy each night the boys think it is the BEST thing ever.  That's why I do this elf thing anyways.  Such a small token of "doing" on my part and they get such joy out of it throughout the whole month of December.  In fact, Owen misses Buddy so much throughout the year that during December I have to take pictures of Buddy on my phone to show Owen (say in May) when he is missing him.  It's kind of sad actually.  

Soon the boys will be too old and grown to love and appreciate Buddy.  That day will be sad for me.  For now, they still love him and look for him every morning the very second they walk out of their rooms.  Will and Owen's face still light up when they see the tree every morning.  And for that...I am thankful!

Happy Birthday Momma

 Yesterday was my mom's birthday.  I won't say how old she was (because I am sure she wouldn't like that) but let's just say she is "about" 20 years older than me:)  Here's all I got to say...I think I know "about" what I'm gonna look like in 20 years.  If I continue to take care of myself that is....

I am pretty happy with my future look in 20 years.  My mom is beautiful inside and out!

My whole life I have been told how much I look like my mom.  On the flip side my sister has heard how much she looks like my dad.  Hence, my sister and I really don't look that much like sisters!  I guess sometimes I see it but because you grow up with these people I don't notice it all the time.  Looking at these pictures and really stopping to see the similarities and differences, it is pretty hard to miss:)  I love my family.  Happy birthday Mom!

Sunny Florida

Andrea and I have officially decided to make this an "Annual trip" now so you are about to read about the 1st Annual girls weekend trip.  Florida sure beats St Louis.  Let's put it that way:)  St Louis is halfway between Tulsa and Lexington so MANY a weekend that is where we travel to.  Florida/St Louis...I see a clear winner!  

We were so blessed to have husbands and some sitters (on her end) that helped us out with the 5 babies while we were gone.  Momma's usually run the household (Sorry Daddies but it's true) so for them to be gone for 3 days can get tricky.  Luckily on my end it snowed and iced and Steven had to be home anyways because he can't work in weather like that.  The boys were home from school for snow days so it was a pretty easy gig for him I think!

There's something to be said for walking down the streets in DECEMBER and feeling sweat roll down your back.  I am not complaining.  It was a wonderful feeling knowing how bitterly cold it was back at home.  It just doesn't feel like Christmas when you are in 100% sunshine, no clouds, no rain, white sand and blue water.  It's strange to see Christmas lights strung up in palm trees and to hear "Let it Snow" on the radio when it is 84 degrees outside.  That's where I wanna live for Christmas every year!

I took that picture to show how different my two days were.  When I left the top picture is what it looked like at my house, and the bottom picture was my view the next morning.  Pretty good change if you ask me:)

Of course, no trip to Florida would be complete without some seafood.  We picked this really cool place right on the water where they raved about the sunset.  They even had a clock that was set and a bell that rang as soon as the sun dipped below the horizon.  They take their sunsets seriously at that place.  It was beautiful though and worth waiting on.  The seafood wasn't half bad either.  The best part though was the company.  Can't get much better than your best friend of OVER 20 years!

I HATE COLD

 "National Hate Florida Day"?  Um...I don't think so! Let's try for "National I LOVE Florida Day and Wish I lived there 365 Days of the Year Day."  That doesn't read as smoothly though.  Seriously, besides the off chance of a hurricane sweeping through there is nothing to NOT love about Florida.  Living in Oklahoma I have the almost 100% chance of a tornado passing through so there's really not much difference.  

I came home from Florida (that blog later) to extremely cold temperatures.  Like 12.  That was it.  That's the temp when I walked off the plane after a weekend in 83 degrees.  I wasn't venturing outside so the family and I decided to make Christmas cookies.  What a fun family tradition and this year Steven got to join in on the fun since he was stuck home too due to the snow and ice.  

So, until it warms up again...I will just dream of living in Florida where you can wear flip flops, shorts, and get year around pedicures in DECEMBER!

I LOVE MY FAMILY

Thank you Jesus for these blessings.  I think I am gonna keep them:)